18" Madame Alexander Doll Head Repair

After my last post describing how I go about repairing a broken limb on a Journey Girl, it reminded me that I still hadn't posted about how I fix broken heads on these shoulder plate dolls.  So here you go.  This is a pretty little gal I picked up at the thrift store strictly because I liked her clothing.  Getting a complete outfit, plus shoes for only $3.00 seemed like a pretty good deal!  I figured I could keep the clothing and donate the doll back to the thrift store, but only after I fixed her wobbly head.

Her stuffing had also settled in such a way to where she couldn't stand up straight, poor thing.

First order of business:  open back seam and pull out all the stuffing.  Set aside.

Using sharp scissors, pull the head away from the neck and clip the stringing elastic.

Pictured here is the plastic cup that was up inside her head.  Use a blow dryer to heat the vinyl for a few minutes so that it becomes pliable enough so you can pull out the cup with a pair of pliers.  Thread with new stringing elastic and attach a crimping sleeve to the end as shown.  Now, shove this cup back up into the head, extending the long, loose end of the stringing elastic through the neck and into the body cavity.

Now, this is where the fun part begins:  string the cup hook that was in the body, followed by a couple of wooden spools (or however many you need), and then another crimping sleeve.  Pull everything nice and tight up against the neck cavity.  The reason you need the wooden spools is because the body cavity is too small to effectively reach up with a pair of pliers and squish the crimping sleeve, so adding the spools give you more room to work.  I have heard from people who have actually tightened these dolls' heads without stringing on extra length in the form of spools like I have, but they have also said that it was one of the hardest things they ever did and many curse words may have been uttered!

After you have pulled the stringing cord as tight as you can, squish flat the crimping sleeve at the base of the wooden spool.  Re-stuff the body.  I added extra stuffing I had on hand so she could stand without slouching.  Stitch up the back seam.

And here she is, good as new!  Her head is nice and tight again, and she can stand on her own without looking like she's crippled.  Easy peasy.  I suppose this would work with most 18" dolls with shoulder plates, although the Journey Girl doll I worked on in the last post had a bottom plate in her chest area, so this would have needed to be cut out first in order to access the head.  Hope this works for you!

18" Madame Alexander Doll Limb Repair

Lately I've been enjoying figuring out how to repair dolls.  The method I will show you is not the only way, or may not even be the best way, but it is the way I discovered that works best for me!  Here we have an 18" Madame Alexander doll, marked 2004 on the back of her neck.  I found her at a thrift store with her arm already broken.  I was able to get her for half price because of the defect, so I believe she cost me a whopping $2.00.  Her clothing and shoes alone made her worth the price, and I figured I could practice my rehab skills on her.

Here is a picture of her leg joint, but it is exactly what her arm joint looked like as well.  When it breaks, there is no way to repair it aside from removing it and replacing it with a new sort of jointing system.  I used pliers to crack apart the plastic and remove all the parts. This is what you are left with:  

A nice, empty, shoulder cavity.

Here's the arm, with the plastic joint removed.  Also shown is the wooden craft ball with a center hole which I decided to use for the new joint.  The ball is just slightly larger than the armhole opening.  You'll need to use a blow drier (or heat your vinyl some other way to make it pliable) in order to be able to shove the wooden ball inside the cavity.

Here are the supplies I used:  Elastic stringing cord, metal washers, crimp sleeves, and wooden craft balls (with a center hole)

Thread elastic cord through the wooden ball and secure a crimp sleeve on one end with pliers.

Heat up the vinyl (only takes about a minute with a blow drier), and then shove the wooden ball (crimp-sleeve end first) into the arm.  Wait a few minutes for the vinyl to cool and become hard again.  

Thread the free end of elastic cord into the shoulder cavity and out through the body.  Add another wooden ball (optional), a washer, and then another crimp sleeve.  You don't have to add the wooden ball, but I was having hard time reaching into the narrow body cavity and securing the crimp sleeve with the pliers, so adding the wooden ball allowed me more room and ease to get this accomplished.  Pull the elastic as tight as possible and secure the crimp sleeve with pliers.  The arm is now functional again!

Another picture of the joint repaired.  I ended up cutting off the long tail of elastic that wasn't needed.  Then I restuffed her torso with fiberfill stuffing and closed the opening with a ladder stitch.

All ready to be loved and enjoyed again!

This particular doll is being donated to a lady in my doll club who is involved in an organization that gives dolls to children in the foster care system.  She will receive a nice, new outfit and shoes.  But most of all, she will receive a new little girl to love her!  I am so happy to have been able to give to new life to a doll that most likely would have ended up in a landfill.  Aside from her broken arm, she was really lovely.  Her hair is thick and full, and she has the sweetest face.  These early, Madame Alexander play dolls are so pretty.

And while this is not doll related in the least, I just had to share:

This is my son's teddy bear hamster, Lydia.  Isn't she cute?  She is so sweet and tame.  Here she is, taking a sand bath in a ceramic bowl.  She is about 1 1/2 years old.  Hamsters only live about 2-3 years on average, so I am already dreading the day she passes on.  My son (and the rest of our family) just love this little rodent so much!

Just like people, her hair is turning white behind her ears with age.  So I guess we have a little old lady hamster!